One of those giant hands whipped forward, slapping him so hard across the face he heard a crack in his neck. He flinched, sucking in a breath as he raised his hand towards his face in disbelief.
Without a word, without even looking at him, Leviathan spun and left the room, slamming the door behind him. It shattered against the stone, dragging a startled cry from Cullen, but he remained seated on the bed as Leviathan’s giant form disappeared into the hall, his footsteps echoing and echoing until Cullen wasn’t sure he was even hearing them anymore.
He lost track of how long he sat there, his hand pressed to his stinging cheek and his chest unable to move to draw in breaths. It felt like hours. Days.
But his cheek was still stinging when his face twisted with fury. When it raced hot through his blood and had him tearing into the hallway, shadows whipping from him as he followed the death aura Leviathan had left behind.
He ran past several shattered windows, several large holes in the walls, the stone broken and crushed into dust on the floor. He could feel the rage that poured off of it all, that still pulsed through the hallway. He followed it, his own fury bursting off him in fierce waves until he hit the throne room. He paused at the arched door for the briefest of moments, swallowing down the fear that rose at the sensation of pure, violent death that seeped from the room, and then shoved his way into it.
His eyes hit the throne, the massive figure sitting atop it, and he straightened, raising his chin as he strode across the room.
“What the fuck was that?” He demanded as he approached. “You fucking hit me?! You don’t say a word, you just blow apart the room again and then you fuckinghitme?!” He put one foot on the lowest step–and a sharpcommand ofkneelpulsed into his mind, sending him shooting to his knees.
He gasped as they hit the hard floor, aches shooting up his entire body, and then turned a furious snarl up to Leviathan, who remained disturbingly calm, his head on his fist. He couldn’t hide the malice in his eyes, though. Or stop the burn that Cullen could feel in his veins.
“You son of a bitch!” He hissed. “Take this goddamn command off me right now!”
Another infinity passed while they stared at each other, Leviathan clearly pondering what he wanted to do. Cullen tried to pry into his mind to see his thoughts, but a wall had been put up. One that seemed thick and endless. He shouldn’t have been shocked by how badly that hurt, but he was.
“You still love him.”
He jerked backwards as if he’d been slapped again. He hadn’t expected such calm words. Hadn’t expectedthosewords.
“I do not.”
“Do you think you can lie to me when I’m inside your head?” His mind pierced Cullen’s like a knife, dragging a scream from him as he pelted him with the memory of his shadows shooting out to defend Walker against Leviathan’s. The vision vanished, the wall slammed back into place, leaving Cullen hunched over and gasping. Leviathan’s face hadn’t shifted an inch.
“You’re in my head…” He choked out finally, twisting to look up at him again. It was strange to see him like this, in this body. He’d felt it before, in the bath, had heard his voice change and listened to Leviathan’s description of himself. How he’d neglected the fact that he had two extra fucking arms, Cullen couldn’t imagine. “But you have never been human. You can’t understand the difference between how I loved him versus how I love you.”
A muscle twinged in his cheek. “You don’t love me.”
“Of course I do!” He spat, trying to break the command on his legs to no avail. “What do you think I’ve been doing all this time?! You think I laugh at your jokes and kiss you and hold you anddreamabout you and that all of it just fucking means nothing?! You think I’m not completely fucking obsessed with you?!” He let out a scream of rage and slammed his fist into the stair in front of him, shattering the stone. “I let you tear out my heart and put a fucking soul binding cursed necklace around it and you think I just did that because I’m fucking you?! You can’t possibly be that fucking stupid!”
Leviathan’s face had gone carefully blank. Two of his hands lowered to his lap while the other two moved to grip the arm rests of his chair. “Do you realize who you’re speaking to?” His voice was soft. “Do you realize who I am?”
It may have been the stupidest thing Cullen had ever done, but he raised himself as high as he could before whispering, “A demon lord who’s acting like a spoiled brat just because he can’t understand a human heart.”
Leviathan was suddenly in front of him, as if he’d been there the entire time. Cullen stared at the thigh in front of his face, swallowing hard before looking up at him.
For a moment, he thought the time had finally come. That this was all about to end and he would be nothing but a bloody stain on the floor of this throne room–
“I should do it.” Leviathan breathed, all four of his hands curling into tight fists. “If you want him so badly I should just send you both to heaven where you can remain perfect little lap dogs for those fucking angels. I should rip yourgoddamn head off.” Cullen waited, his heart hammering. Tears were burning at his eyes, but he pushed them back, staring up at him so that when he died Leviathan’s face would be the last thing he saw in this world.
“But I can’t.” Leviathan breathed.
Something wet hit his cheek, startling him. He blinked, feeling tears spill down his cheeks, and realized distantly that this dark demon lord above him was crying. His face was still twisted with rage but he wascrying.
“I saw it all, you know.” He whispered. “Through your mind. I felt your hate. I felt the darkness and the disgust and I knew you didn’t want to kiss him. Before you even pushed him away… Before I even sent you in there, I knew what was likely to happen. It is the nature of humans to be weak that way. I told myself it was fine, because you were leaving with me.” His jaw twitched. “But then I saw what was in his mind. The disgust he felt touching you, the thought that if he could only keep you there, the other one could run and tell the others.” Another tear fell onto Cullen’s cheek, mixing with his own.
“That was why I snapped.” He continued softly. “That was why I came to get you. I didn’t want you to know that he… I wanted to protect you from that, so I made it look like I was just jealous. But…” He inhaled sharply. “You protected him. You protected him because you loved him and he didn’t deserve it and I…” He winced, his jaw twitching again. “You’re so fucking infuriating.”
He inhaled shakily, swallowing down some of the anger that threatened to burst out again. His words should have surprised him but…they didn’t. Walker was exactly the type to fake caring until he could take him down.
“I don’t love him.” He repeated quietly, sniffling. “Notanymore. What I did…protecting him…it’s just ‘cause it’s the right thing to do, Leviathan. I didn’t want him to die, because he doesn’t deserve to.” He scrubbed a sleeve over his face, though more tears followed the ones he’d wiped away. “Even if he’s an asshole. Even if he never loved me, I still don’t want him to die.” He reached for one of his giant hands. “But it doesn’t mean I love him.”
When Leviathan didn’t pull away from his touch, Cullen wrapped his fingers around his wrist, his face flushing when he realized how big it actually was. His fingertips didn’t even come close to touching. Leviathan’s pulse slammed against his fingers, but he remained silent, clearly waiting for something more.
“I love you.” Cullen choked out again, his face growing even warmer. “I have loved you for a long time now. And maybe demons aren’t supposed to be able to love but I…I can. And I do. And I don’t want you to say it back, because I know your heart doesn’t work that way–”
